Geneva Open: Novak Djokovic reaches semi-finals on 38th birthday

Novak Djokovic celebrated his 38th birthday with a revenge victory over Matteo Arnaldi to reach the Geneva Open semi-finals.

Djokovic lost to the Italian in April in what was a third straight loss for the Serb great during a mixed clay-court season.

However, Djokovic came through a stern test in damp conditions to beat Arnaldi 6-4 6-4 and continue his French Open preparations in positive fashion.

He will face a semi-final against Cameron Norrie, who staged an impressive fightback to beat Australian Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (8-6) 6-4.

The Briton is into his first semi-final of the season and while facing Djokovic is a daunting prospect, he will take heart from his performance.

It didn't start well, however, as he trailed Popyrin 5-3 in the first set but impressively dug in to turn things around, drawing level before forcing the tiebreak.

There he came through a couple of scares to progress but found things much more straightforward in the second set as Popyrin struggled to deal with the tennis Norrie was playing.

"I was bit nervous going into the match," Norrie said afterwards. "It was one of the bigger matches for me this year. It was very tough and cold conditions. I was really happy with how I found my flow.

"It has taken a lot of change in mindset to just really enjoy things more and not put so much expectation on myself. The body is holding up and that is a positive. I am just enjoying and I think that is helping me.

"It doesn't get any easier playing Djokovic."

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